Cynops Orientalis seem to love both land and water

Just a little concerned over one of my C. orientalis as she (I think) has started to spend a lot of time on land, I'd say half the time she is out of the water. I have provided a generous land area compared to most C. orientalis keepers as this tank was originally built for T. verrucosus but I could only find C. orientalis locally.

I'm assuming that these are wild caught newts and I have had them for 5 weeks.

I have 3 in total, one small one who is 100% terrestrial, I'm assuming that he is a juvenile, who is now eating quite well a diet of chopped night crawlers. Two larger ones that were 100% aquatic up until recently as the temperatures are on the rise (We had an arctic front blow in and temperatures outside were -10C at night and no higher than 0C during the day for 5 weeks). Now one of the larger newts is about 50/50 land to water and the other larger newt is 20/80 land to water.

I've tested the water and it is damn near perfect, no issues at all with water quality. For the past 5 weeks water temperature has been 13C at night and no higher than 14.5C during the day. Since the arctic front has dispersed it's now 14C at night and 16.5C during the day. Could this be the reason they are leaving the water more frequently now?

Is it possible that since they have this large land area that they are just taking advantage of it? None appear to be ill and are all eating well. I just don't get why they are all on land quite often while everywhere I read says they are fully aquatic as adults and only need a stick breaking the waters surface and some floating vegetation as land area.

I'm just a bit worried haha

Pictures attached of the tank (40 breeder 36x18x18 inches)

I think it's probably one of the things you mention, or a combination of them.
If they appear healthy and are eating a balanced diet I wouldn't worry too much about it, wild caught newts will often behave strangely until they become used to captivity. It's true that most people keep Cynops/Hypselotriton in the water all year round because it does them no harm and makes their care and feeding more straightforward, but it's thought that most wild populations spend at least some of the year on land, so if you don't mind the extra effort sourcing terrestrial foods, there's nothing wrong with keeping them like that.

Chinadog said:

I think it's probably one of the things you mention, or a combination of them.
If they appear healthy and are eating a balanced diet I wouldn't worry too much about it, wild caught newts will often behave strangely until they become used to captivity. It's true that most people keep Cynops/Hypselotriton in the water all year round because it does them no harm and makes their care and feeding more straightforward, but it's thought that most wild populations spend at least some of the year on land, so if you don't mind the extra effort sourcing terrestrial foods, there's nothing wrong with keeping them like that.

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Glad to hear, thanks for your insight. :happy: